I was recently told that the ring used for kiddushin should be made entirely out of one kind of metal (usually gold), with no other adornments such as diamonds, etc. I had been under the impression that the only halachic requirement for the wedding ring was that it had to be shaveh prutah.

Is what I had been told true? Are there any other halachot about wedding rings? If not, is it a commonly practiced minhag for the ring to be made entirely out of one kind of metal?

4 Answers
4

In theory, as long as it's intrinsically worth a perutah it's good enough, but there can be no misunderstandings about what it is! If she thinks she's getting a diamond when in fact you're giving her a cubic zirconia, then it could be claimed the kiddushin occurred under false pretenses. So we avoid stones or fancy engravings.

THEREFORE, to avoid any chance of confusion, the recommended practice is:

A ring. (Could actually be another item of intrinsic value, but usually a ring). Usually gold, can be platinum (or even silver?) if necessary, but make sure everyone understands what it is and what it's worth. Should be plain and unengraved (well often they have a small engraving inside, something like "14K", that's not a problem.) A simple design that doesn't cost any more and they can easily mass-produce by mold is okay -- so it can be plain-plain, or have a milgrain edge or the like.

Similarly to Shalom's answer, I've heard that a ring used for Kiddushin should ideally be made of yellow gold, so that it is clear what is being given and the value can be fairly easily ascertained. According to this explanation, even platinum or white gold should be avoided, as they resemble silver. Having said that, there is no real Halachah, that I'm aware of, that it needs to be done this way, as long as it is certainly worth more than a Perutah.

The only caveat to what I've said above, also mentioned by Shalom and sourced to Tosafoth in a comment by Moses, is that if the bride believes she is being given something other than what she is receiving, it could possibly be a מקח טעות, or a fraudulent/erroneous transaction, which could conceivably void the entire Kiddushin. But, again, this is a safeguard, not a requirement, and as such it has developed into a Minhag in some circles (certainly Tosafoth imply that it was a Minhag at least in their locale/time, and possibly much more widespread than that, to at least avoid anything with jewels on it in case she thinks they are more valuable than they are; although Tos seem to be discussing quality of the gems, not real vs. fake - and it is possible, though I don't know for certain, that this much is codified as Halachah today).

This is a long kabalistic article of what to use for a wedding ring gold or silver. It should also be round on the inside and square on the outside.
Some specially use white gold since it has the attributes of gold and being white like silver. It seems you cant use a ring made of both.
White is the colour of rachamim which a young couple need.
The letters of zhv are decreasing in value whereas the letters of ksf are increasing upwards.
These of course have nothing to do with halacha.

The Halacha requires the ring to be worth a Perutah (about $.05) no matter the composition.

A woman is regarded as being willing to be Mekudeshet for a Perutah, as women always prefer to be married than being alone (see Kiddushin 41a).

The bride, the groom or both can make a condition on the value or the composition of the ring, and they need to do that before the witnesses. For example, the bride can demand a $300 gold ring (on different types of gold see another question). In such a case, if the ring fails to meet the conditions retrospectively it is called מקח טעות and the Kiddushin are invalidated.

If the condition is not made explicitly but either of them imagined a different value or composition of the ring, it does not help to say "I thought it's worth more" or "I thought it's made of platinum" for both of them retrospectively against the aforementioned status.

This doesn't answer the question. It's a tangent off one of the other answers. Perhaps leave a comment on Shalom's answer to elaborate?
– DanielDec 13 '18 at 15:47

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This is incorrect. If she had a right to assume it was worth more, and it was worth less, we are concerned that she wouldn't want to be mekudeshes with this ring.
– robevDec 13 '18 at 16:55

@robev Can you invalidate the Kid' if the Kalah comes the next day and says - "I thought it was worth $500 but turned out it's only $300"? No, the only way is if there's a claim, so what's the claim? "I thought that" is not a claim. Please provide sources for your assertion.
– Al BerkoDec 13 '18 at 17:04

This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. - From Review
– AlexDec 13 '18 at 17:18

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Please elaborate on this based on kiddushin 7b, which talks about these exact factors, and the Tosfos quoted above which discusses rings. And please, please, please source what you say!
– רבות מחשבותDec 13 '18 at 17:55